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Read this if your child is getting a bike

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Ernbar

I live for the CABE
My grandkids are 5 and 6 and like riding bikes like grandpa. My grandson was complaining his 16” bike is hard to pedal, my granddaughter too was complaining. We’ve had the bikes for a while and they have become more interested in riding lately. The bikes are relatively new but here’s what I discovered about previously assembled bikes.

Bottom brackets too tight and dragging.
Hubs too tight and dragging.
Chains on VERY tight.
Headsets on very tight.
Rear wheel dropout bolts overnighted.

Everything was properly adjusted and now I have to be careful cause my granddaughter is biking super fast and fell off once !
She has grown out of her 16” bike and just got an 18” for her for Christmas and guess what? Out of the box all of the above had to be loosened and properly adjusted, again all were extreme overnight.
 
My grandkids are 5 and 6 and like riding bikes like grandpa. My grandson was complaining his 16” bike is hard to pedal, my granddaughter too was complaining. We’ve had the bikes for a while and they have become more interested in riding lately. The bikes are relatively new but here’s what I discovered about previously assembled bikes.

Bottom brackets too tight and dragging.
Hubs too tight and dragging.
Chains on VERY tight.
Headsets on very tight.
Rear wheel dropout bolts overnighted.

Everything was properly adjusted and now I have to be careful cause my granddaughter is biking super fast and fell off once !
She has grown out of her 16” bike and just got an 18” for her for Christmas and guess what? Out of the box all of the above had to be loosened and properly adjusted, again all were extreme overnight.
I used to work closely with the bike assembly guys in the stores when I worked retail and, I cant speak for all of them, but all of the ones i met were not bicycle people but more assemble-quick-to-get-home-sooner kinda guys. In most cases there was very little grease on ANY bearing, brakes WAY out of adjustment, handlebars loose etc etc.
You stand a better chance buying a bike at a legit bike shop if you want something ready to go right out the door cause the other guys are just assemblers.
 
I used to work closely with the bike assembly guys in the stores when I worked retail and, I cant speak for all of them, but all of the ones i met were not bicycle people but more assemble-quick-to-get-home-sooner kinda guys. In most cases there was very little grease on ANY bearing, brakes WAY out of adjustment, handlebars loose etc etc.
You stand a better chance buying a bike at a legit bike shop if you want something ready to go right out the door cause the other guys are just assemblers.
True but c'mon Chris. What do you expect when the big box stores can only pay these guys about $20 an hour plus benefits.
 
True but c'mon Chris. What do you expect when the big box stores can only pay these guys about $20 an hour plus benefits.
O trust me I know why....Im not hating on em because they actually get paid based on how many bikes they assemble, not how many they assemble correctly, so the incentive is not there to make them safe, only to make them sell.
They are a product of the same thing most of us are....feeding our families.

...but, that is the reason most of the "big box" stores crank out bikes with sub-par workmanship.
 
More of an under tightening thing that I have seen. Kids in the neighborhood get the bikes home and things start loosening up like they were only hand tightened! Definitely not bike people putting these bikes together...
 
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